Panama Papers JIT to submit final report before SC today

ISLAMABAD: The Joint Investigation Team (JIT) probing the Panama Papers case will submit its final report to the special bench of Supreme Court (SC) today (July 10) as the term designated by the apex court for the JIT to complete the investigations has come to a close.

The special implementation bench of the SC had formed the JIT to probe Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s alleged offshore wealth and charges of money laundering against the Sharif family.

Earlier on Saturday, Nawaz Sharif held an advisory meeting with federal ministers and law experts to ponder over the course to be taken after the JIT submits its report on the findings of the Panama leaks investigations.

An interview of Kulsoom Nawaz, wife of PM Nawaz, published in British newspaper The Guardian will also be a part of this probe report.

PM Nawaz’s wife gave this interview regarding the ownership of London flats in April 2000.

It has yet to be seen if the Panama Papers case interrogators, who got 60 days to find answers to 13 questions, got satisfactory answers to the questions meant to bring to light, among others, the money trail of London properties owned by members of the Sharif family.

The JIT was constituted on May 5 in light of the court’s April 20 judgment in Panama Papers case. It held its first meeting on May 8.

The six-member JIT comprises its head, FIA's Wajid Zia, Amer Aziz of the State Bank of Pakistan, SECP Executive Director Communication Bilal Rasool, Irfan Naeem Mangi of National Accountability Bureau, Brigadier (retd) Nauman Saeed of the Inter-Services Intelligence and Brigadier Kamran Khurshid from the Military Intelligence.

During the course of the investigations, those who appeared before the JIT once include Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, and Maryam Nawaz, the daughter of the prime minister. Meanwhile, Hussain Nawaz, elder son of the prime minister appeared six times while younger son Hassan Nawaz was summoned thrice. Meanwhile, the JIT met PM's cousin Tariq Shafi for the first time on May 15 and for the second time on July 2.

The team was empowered to summon anyone to investigate the money-laundering charges against the Sharif family. The interrogators will submit today the final report before a three-member special implementation bench of the apex court, which is headed by Justice Ejaz Afzal Khan and comprising Justice Sheikh Azmat Saeed and Justice Ijazul Ahsan.

Over the given 60 days, the investigators collected evidence and documents related to the business dealings of the family, and recorded the statements of witnesses – seven of them members of the Sharif family.